News, Information and Important Resources for Human Resource Professionals and Job Seekers

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Category: job seekers

It’s widely believed in policy circles that technology creates jobs around the U.S., especially outside the startup-happy zone of Silicon Valley. But, searching for statistical nuggets in a needlestack of words is daunting–and a little boring. So, technology lobby, Engine Advocacy, and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, are here to inform and dazzle you with multi-colored graphs (plus some egregious copy and pasting on our part) [PDF].

It is no surprise that almost every job is posted online, that is why finding a good website that offers comprehensive information is one of the first major tools to land a job.

Some websites are limited to just lists of job openings and are simply formatted. When you are doing your job hunt, look for websites that offer career trends, suggestions of what you can do with your current skills and how to translate them into the new position that you desire.

Signed into law on Monday, this bill provides help for veterans as well as tax incentives and credits for employers:

The bill provides double the tax incentives for companies who hire disabled veterans and repeals a 2006 law that, as of 2012, would have required federal, state, and local governments to withhold three percent of payments to contractors.

Mr. Obama also announced a series of executive actions aimed at providing unemployed veterans with the resources to find jobs – including a jobs bank, employment counseling and online resources allowing veterans to explore their employment options.

Here’s an excellent piece that covers some of the major mistakes job seekers make when constructing their resumes.

Author Leslie Ayers writes:

If you read my column regularly, you know I believe a great resume is like the golden ticket to the job you really want. It tells a potential employer what you can do for them, and establishes you in their mind as someone they want to meet.

As an added bonus, a great resume makes you feel more confident in your job search, and it serves as a guide in an interview so that all of the important things someone should know about you are covered.

The role of the resume has remained constant throughout its 500 years of existence — the point of the resume is to get a job.

Relative to other forms of communication, though, it hasn’t changed all that much. In fact, most of the changes have been merely cosmetic — most employers still require a one-sheet, black-and-white printed resume at interviews, regardless of the fact that we all use email and have had access to much better design options for years now. Not to mention, printing is unnecessary in the digital world we live in. At this point, even the role of cover letters in today’s job market is being scrutinized.

Of course you already know to be careful regarding what you post and write on social media sites, right? Think you’ve been careful enough?

As “social media” background checks become more commonplace, you might be surprised as to just how much seemingly innocuous information can be used against you.

Mat Honan of Gizmodo just published a great piece on how he actually failed a “social media” background check. He writes:

We ran background checks on six Gizmodo employees, including our editor in chief Joe Brown, and all but one came back clean. When it doesn’t find anything incriminating on a potential employee, it simply issues a notice that the employees passed (see below) and doesn’t generate a file.

And then there’s me. I flunked hard. When that happens, Social Intelligence creates a report, which it would then send to an employer. And if you don’t get a job because of your social media report, you can request a copy. Mine’s filled with delightful details, like “subject admits to use of cocaine as well as LSD,” and “subject references use of Ketamine.”